January 2021
We left for our trip around the outside of Bruny Island on the first day of the new year. After doing a quick reprovison in Bellerive we sailed out of Hobart aiming to drop the anchor that night in Moorina Bay located at the northern end of Adventure Bay. It was about 25nm from Kangaroo Bay to Moorina Bay and that day we had the perfect winds to get us there. With a moderate northerly breeze we set the full main sail and stay-sail which combined with the wind caused us to sail at record speeds, which for us is about six knots so not ground breaking by most boats standards. We had slipped Allagia three weeks ago and since then we were achieving five to six knot averages with relative ease, speeds that most other boats take for granted but we have to work hard for.
Since arriving in Tasmania it had always been a plan of ours to go around the outside of Bruny Island having heard that the coastline was supposed to be quite amazing. But it seemed that every time we had planned to do the trip either something would come up or the forecast would change unfavourable at the last second. But that day when we left for Moorina Bay we couldn’t have asked for better weather, the winds were perfect, the sea state was down and we had beautiful clear blue skies. We were also not disappointed by the scenery, the coastline on this side of Bruny Island was quite dramatic living up to all our expectations. We sailed under rugged cliff faces while admiring great green mountains in the distance both covered in huge towering trees. With such perfect conditions it seemed that we arrived in Moorina Bay in no time. It was late afternoon when we sailed in and were surprised to see that we didn’t have the anchorage to ourselves, with another yacht anchored in close to the beach. So to keep out of their way we decided to anchor a little way behind them under Cape Queen Elizabeth. This was a truly beautiful spot to spend the night, rocked to sleep as a gentle swell wrapped around the cape from the open ocean.
Before leaving I had desperately wanted to do the walk from the beach out to the end of Cape Queen Elizabeth, having done the first part of the walk in October. But with the way the swell was rolling in it was causing mini surf to crash on the beach and our little hard dinghy really isn’t suited to surf landings. We could have inflated our spare blow-up dinghy but that day we didn’t really have the time to stuff around as we needed to move on that afternoon before a wind change hit the area. So instead we weighed anchor and waved good-bye to Adventure Bay, slowly sailing off and admiring the rest of the coast on our way out. The forecast that day suggested that we would have a nice 10-15kts which would have been a reasonable sailing breeze. However instead from the moment we set the sails the wind started to ease and not build as was forecast. This meant that by the time we had reached the southern end of Adventure Bay we were completely becalmed and so to avoid being swept into the approaching land by the swell we were forced to start the engine. That day we were aiming to get to Cloudy Bay which was about 24nm away, a relatively short distance but with no wind it looked like it was going to be a long day of motor sailing. Although on the bright side we had amazing scenery to admire, the coastline of Bruny Island certainly wasn’t disappointing us even if the wind was. The cliff faces were becoming more rugged and spectacular the further south we went and even better we were being continuously entertained by pods of dolphins as they played in our bow wave.
It was around mid afternoon when we finally reached the most southern point of Bruny Island called Tasman Head. To round this point we had to squeeze through a 900m gap between The Friars Island group and Tasman Head. However as we were approaching under motor with full sail and no wind we were getting very vivid recollections of our passage between Tasman Island and Cape Pillar about 12months earlier. These feelings became even stronger as the breeze suddenly started to pick up from behind, just as we were nearing the entrance. Having learnt our lesson from last time we decided to reduce sail well before entering the gap, reefing the main and handing the jib in preparation. But this time our fears were for nothing as although we flew past the island group under our remaining sails the wind never reached more then the forecast 15-20kts. But as usual no sooner had we cleared the islands the wind completely died out and we were once again becalmed. So the engine was put back into gear and we continued on motoring while once more our sails hung limp above us.
By late afternoon we finally dropped anchor in Cloudy Bay after rounding the spectacular cliffs on Cloudy Bay Head. With the weather we were forecast we decided we would stay in Cloudy Bay for a couple of nights and so were content to stay on Allagia and go ashore the following morning.
That meant the next day we were up bright and early ready to go ashore and do a little exploring before the day got too hot. From some earlier Google searching I knew that there was a 6km return walk out to Cloudy Bay Head, this was the massively tall headland we had passed on the way in with the spectacular cliff face. The map suggested that even though it was a relatively short walk it would be quite intense as the elevation went from sea level to 300m over only 3km.
However we decided that we were up for the challenge and started the walk but it quickly became apparent that we weren’t alone on the trail. As we were walking I had started noticing lines in the dirt which at first I had thought were bike treads. However no sooner had I voiced that this was a weird place to ride a bike, as the track was sandy and overgrown, Hugo yelled watch out SNAKE. Suddenly the tracks in the dirt made much more sense, they weren’t bike tracks but snake tracks and by amount of marks it looked like there was a lot of them. With this in mind we kept a watchful eye out but decided to keep going, stomping through the overgrown sections and not dawdling. However after about another kilometre of walking and seeing more snake tracks then I could count I was losing my nerve and ready to turn around. Even though we hadn’t reached the end we had reached a clearing about 100m above sea level and were rewarded with an amazing view of Cloudy Bay and the open ocean. So not wanting to push our luck after having seen a good view we decided to cut the walk short and carefully made our way back to the boat. Luckily Hugo was in the lead as not far from where we saw the first snake he saw a second slither into the bushes. Thankfully we reach the beach without any incidences and made it back to Allagai in one piece.
We spent the remainder of the day relaxing on the boat getting ready to sail out first thing the next morning, it was time to head back to Cygnet to collect some mail. I knew when we sailed out last time that we hadn’t seen the last of Cygnet. So the following day we waved good-bye to Cloudy Bay, it was 26nm to Cygnet and the forecast said we would have tailwinds the whole way. However once again the weather Gods did not look upon us favourable that day. We spent the better part of that morning becalmed and then when we entered the D’entrecasteaux Channel we encountered headwinds which although was followed by tailwinds they were light and fluky. So yet again we spent most of that day motor sailing, turning the engine off and sailing when we could but motoring more then we would have liked. As most of the time as soon as we had some peace and quiet it seemed like that was also the signal for the wind to die out. On the bright side we had a clear sky and amazing scenery as we finished sailing past the last of the outside of Bruny Island. After a frustrating sail we finally arrived in Cygnet in the late afternoon dropping anchor just outside the mooring field for hopefully the last time. The following morning we planned to get our mail wanting to be out of Cygnet as soon as possible so we could continue sailing north. Our next plan was to head to the east coast of Tasmania and see some of the places we had missed on the way down,so next stop Maria Island.